Recently, the FCC has allowed the use of unused TV spectrum, sometimes referred to as white space, with rules for accessing the spectrum. There are potentially multiple channels available for use at a particular location, and potentially multiple technologies that can be use with those channels. In a system with centralized control, the controller node can effectively balance the loads throughout the system among the alternative available channel/technology possible combinations. However, with a centralized approach, a significant amount of overhead signaling typically needs to be communicated frequently to the central control node to efficiently manage and load balance the available resources, e.g., current channel conditions at the nodes, current resource needs for the nodes, latency considerations, etc. This overhead signaling may consume a significant portion of the available air link resources which might otherwise be used for carrying traffic. In addition, it may be difficult for some wireless communications devices to communicate with the centralized control node, e.g., a wireless communications device may be located far away from an access point and may have to transmit at high power to communicate with the access point, causing a high level of interference to other nodes. Unfortunately, in a system lacking centralized control, it is difficult to balance traffic across the different channel/technology combinations that may be available.
Based on the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there is a need for methods and apparatus which would allow decentralized decision making with regard to channel/technology usage decisions so that a large amount of overhead signaling does not have to be communicated to a central control node.